Bruins getting warmer

Friday

Feb 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 29, 2008 at 10:27 PM

Glen Farley

Give ‘em a high five.

“It’s more than back-to-back,” said Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, responding to a reporter who asked him to comment on the two straight solid performances his team has enjoyed at home this week. “It’s kind of like back to back to back to back to back to back.”

With Thursday night’s 5-1 pounding of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the TD Banknorth Garden, the Bruins extended lengthened their win streak to five. At the same time, they also extended their point streak to seven games (6-0-1).

The former is the Bruins’ longest such streak since the 2003-04 season when they won six straight games from Jan. 29-Feb. 10. The latter is the Bruins’ longest such streak since the 2005-06 season when they went 5-0-2 from Jan. 14-26.

“We’re just playing together,” said center Marc Savard. “We’re doing all the little things right now. Every guy’s stepping up. It’s proven in our play right now. It’s an amazing feeling when the ball gets rolling … It’s a lot of fun.”

The good times were indeed rolling at the Garden on Thursday night.

With two first-period goals in a span of 2:18, left wing Marco Sturm pushed his season total to a team-high 22 and his career total to 200.

With two assists in the game, Savard pushed his career total to 400.

Defenseman Zdeno Chara scored his eighth goal in 10 games, upping his career-high point total to 45 this season.

All that stood between Thomas and a second consecutive shutout was a goal by Pittsburgh left wing Pascal Dupuis at 13:03 that really only served to narrow the Penguins’ deficit at the time to 4-1.

After waiting 42 games for the first goal of his NHL career, center David Krejci only had to wait another 48 hours for his second, closing out the scoring with a power-play tally with 2:11 to play.

Thus, two games after the team’s general manager, Peter Chiarelli, said his decision not to pull the trigger at the league’s trade deadline could be interpreted as a vote of confidence in the B’s, they’ve defeated two teams above them in the NHL standings — first Ottawa, now Pittsburgh — by a collective 9-1.

“The players are encouraged and believe in this hockey club, and I said after the trade deadline that these guys are extremely happy in the dressing room to remain together because they are a close-knit group,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “Right now, they have the opportunity to prove to everybody in this organization that they made the right decision by not moving anybody out.”

It is the Bruins who are on the move at the moment, their 74 points pulling them to within four of the front-running Senators in the Northeast Division (with two games in hand on Ottawa) and to within three of the Canadiens (with one game in hand on Montreal).

“No major adjustments, it’s just everyone doing the right thing,” left wing Shawn Thornton said. “Maybe some games when we were struggling we had one line doing one thing, one line doing another. I think for the last couple of weeks here everyone’s been pulling in the same direction.”

“When it’s going like this,” said Savard, “it’s fun going to the rink every day.”

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